Nissan today posted a USD 4.28 billion full-year net profit and record sales as the Japanese automaker shrugged off the devastating impact of last year’s quake-tsunami disaster on production.

Japan’s second-biggest automaker said it earned 341.43 billion yen in the fiscal year to March,up 7.0 per cent year-on-year,surpassing its forecast of 290 billion yen and bucking a national trend of falling auto profits.

The company said sales rose to their highest-ever 9.41 trillion yen with 4.85 million vehicles sold globally,even after a year that saw natural disasters and a high yen play havoc with many automakers’ operations.

Vehicle sales rose in Japan,the United States,Europe and Nissan’s biggest market,China,now the world’s largest auto market,where the firm said sales jumped about 22 per cent in fiscal 2011.

For the current year,Nissan said it expected a net profit of 400 billion yen on soaring sales of 10.3 trillion yen,and forecast it would sell 5.35 million vehicles around the world,up about 10.0 per cent.

This will be “a good year for the industry,particularly if you are in a well-equipped position,” chief executive Carlos Ghosn told a news briefing in the city of Yokohama,where the company is based.

“We want to be … the number one Asian brand in China,Russia and Brazil.”

Ghosn added that “India’s going to be very difficult because of the big presence of Suzuki… but for China we are already number one. And in Russia we want to be the number one.”